SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE ARTICLE

VETERINARY SCIENCE

published: 13 November 2014

doi: 10.3389/fvets.2014.00023

The development of animal nutrition and metabolism and

the challenges of our time
Toshiro Arai *
Department of Basic Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Tokyo, Japan
*Correspondence: tarai@nvlu.ac.jp
Edited by:
Mary M. Christopher, University of California-Davis, USA
Reviewed by:
Jose Ceron, Murcia University, Spain
Stephen Brent Smith, Texas A&M University, USA
Keywords: metabolic disorders, comparative nutrition, nutrigenomics, endocrinology, ruminology

Nutrition is defined as the process of providing and obtaining the food necessary
for the health and growth of animals.
Food nutrients are utilized as the main
energy source by an animal via various
processes, including digestion and absorption in the digestive tract, blood transport,
and metabolism in the cells. Regulation
of animal nutrition is associated with the
functions of various tissues and organs
in animals. New and evolving concepts in
animal nutrition and metabolism present
new research challenges that require interdisciplinary collaboration, a rethinking of
traditional disciplinary boundaries, and
adaptation of new research methodology. In this article, I will focus on three
of these challenges comparative nutrition, the relationship between immunology and nutritional disease, and nutrigenomics describing the development of
recent advances and promising areas for
future research, including new treatments
for metabolic disease.

COMPARATIVE NUTRITION AND

METABOLISM
Studies on comparative animal nutrition
begin with analysis of the processes of
energy metabolism. Energy metabolism
and imbalances in metabolic processes can
induce various diseases in animals. Energy
metabolism is the process of ATP production. In tumor cells, energy metabolism processes, including the pentose
phosphate pathway and the malate aspartate shuttle, are accelerated remarkably
(1), whereas, ATP production through
glycolysis decreases greatly in the tissues
of diabetic animals (2). Monitoring ATP
production in tissues is an effective way
to understand the health conditions of

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animals. Further, the relationship between

energy metabolism, endocrinology, and
immunology is key to understanding metabolic disorders in animals.
In recent years, lifestyle-related metabolic diseases, such as obesity, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus have increased
in prevalence in dogs and cats, as in human
beings (3, 4). As also seen in human beings,
obesity in animals is caused by overeating
and physical inactivity, and is a risk factor for various diseases involving energy
metabolism. Obesity is defined as ectopic
lipid accumulation. Recent evidence suggests that reduced lipid storage in the adipose tissue of obese animals contributes
to ectopic lipid accumulation in nonadipose tissues, such as liver, skeletal muscle, and pancreas, where lipotoxicity can
impair metabolic function (5). Excess calories and physical inactivity induce hyperglycemia followed by increased insulin
secretion, which accelerates fatty acid synthesis via activation of transcription factors, such as sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP)-1c. Acceleration of
fatty acid synthesis induces ectopic lipid
accumulation and increases visceral fat
accumulation (the state of obesity). These
recent findings emphasize the importance
of veterinary research in understanding
the pathogenesis and prevention of metabolic disease and for developing effective
treatment.
In contrast to the detrimental effects
of lipid in obesity and diabetes, ectopic
lipid accumulation can be highly valuable
in animal nutrition, such as in the marbling
of beef. Feeding a high amount of cereal
grains, such as corn or barley (high-calorie
foods), changes the color of carcass fat from
yellowish to white, and increases the chance

of obtaining a higher quality grade of meat.

The common gene for fatty acid synthesis
between monogastric animals (dogs and
cats) and ruminants is SREBP-1c. Regulation of the SREBP gene prevents occurrence of obesity in dogs and cats, and
induces marbling in beef cattle. Further,
the nutritional characteristics of rumen fermentation in cattle differ from those in
monogastric animals like dogs and cats.
Different kinds of metabolic diseases also
are observed between companion animals
and food/agricultural animals. Comparative nutrition, therefore, is an important
viewpoint in the study of animal nutrition
and metabolism.

IMMUNOLOGY AND METABOLIC

DISEASE
As the digestive tract is one of the
most important immune organs, and
adipose tissue is the biggest endocrine
organ in the animal body, immunology
and endocrinology are indispensable viewpoints in the study of animal nutrition.
In obesity, marked aberration of adipokine
(adipocytokine) secretion in visceral fat
together with an imbalance in the production of pro- and anti-inflammatory
adipokines are critical in the development of various aspects of the metabolic syndrome, such as insulin resistance. Plasma hormone concentrations
can accompany changes in the immune
states of animals. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is secreted from
white adipose tissue in obesity and contributes to tissue macrophage accumulation and insulin resistance by inducing a
chronic inflammatory state (6). Adipose
tissues in obese animals are altered to
secrete other pro-inflammatory cytokines

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Arai

such as TNF-, MCP-1, and IL-6 (7),

which cause a persistent low-grade inflammation. Obesity also induces an imbalance in the immune reaction of animals.
For example, vaccination is less effective in malnourished (emaciated) animals,
which cannot produce sufficient amounts
of immunoglobulins for healthy immunity. As in human beings, the relationship between nutrition (energy metabolism) and immunology is important for
understanding the prevention and treatment of metabolic disorders in animals,
including lifestyle-related diseases.

NUTRIGENOMICS
Effects of nutrients on gene expression have been studied well in recent
years. Nutrigenomics, a branch of nutritional genomics, is the study of the
effects of foods and food constituents
on gene expression. Nutrigenomics has
also been described as the influence of
genetic variation on nutrition, where gene
expression or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are correlated with a nutrients absorption, metabolism, elimination,
or biological effects. Nutrigenomics has
recently emerged as an important viewpoint in animal nutrition. Nutrigenomics
can lead to the development of effective
foods for many diseases in animals, for
instance, weight reducing diets that contain optimal constituents for obese animals. Metabolomics is the scientific study
of chemical processes involving metabolites. Specifically, metabolomics is the systemic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes
leave behind. The metabolome represents
the collection of all metabolites (the end
products of cellular processes) in a biological cell, tissue, organ, or organism (8).
Measurement of metabolites in animals
with metabolic disorders can clarify the
underlying cause of the disorder, such
that metabolomics is very effective for the
diagnosis of disease in animals. Ruminant
metabolomics, the measurement of fermentation products in the rumen, is very
important for investigation of health in
ruminants. Exhaustive investigation of the
effects of nutrients on plasma metabolite
concentrations will be further developed
as nutrimetabolomics for animals. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism encourages
nutrigenomic studies for improvement of

The development of animal nutrition

animal health and for development of

new diagnostic and treatment methods for
nutritional diseases.

NEW TREATMENTS FOR METABOLIC

DISORDERS
This brings us to a final challenge: developing promising treatments for metabolic
disease based on our new understanding
of the role of immunology. Early treatment of metabolic disorders includes the
development of customized food, supplements, and drugs. Recently, good candidates of supplements and drugs for treating
obesity in human medicine were developed, and these compounds will now be
studied and utilized in veterinary medicine. Licorice flavonoids, for example, have
antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities and are very effective for treating obesity in animals (9). Apoptosis inhibitor
of macrophage (AIM) is a macrophagederived blood protein that plays a key
role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis,
metabolic diseases, and obesity-associated
autoimmune diseases. The regulation of
blood AIM levels or AIM function has
the potential to serve as a next-generation
therapy against these inflammatory diseases (10). AIM also may be a good candidate for treating metabolic disorders of
animals through the new concept of drug
development.
Animal nutrition and metabolism aims
to publish research on new and effective
drugs for various diseases of many animal species through analyses of energy
metabolism using new analytical techniques, i.e., genomics, proteomics, and
metabolomics. Energy metabolism is the
origin of animal health; imbalances in
energy metabolism lead to animal disease.
Studies on animal nutrition and metabolism, therefore, will benefit the health conditions of various animals. Topics of interest include food (nutrients), malnutrition,
vitamin deficiency, rumen fermentation,
restricted feeding, inflammation, metabolic disorders, lifestyle-related illnesses
(obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes,
hypertension), tumors, genetic diagnosis,
and development of supplements and
drugs in animals.
While I cite only a few major challenges (comparative nutrition, nutrition
immunology relationship, nutrigenomics)
in the immediate future of animal nutrition

Frontiers in Veterinary Science | Animal Nutrition and Metabolism

and metabolism, I know that there will

be many others. With the support of the
Editorial Board and the entire Animal
Nutrition and Metabolism Community,
Frontiers in Veterinary Sciences will be
the major forum for addressing these and
other future challenges. Welcome to the
new journal and the new, innovative style
of publishing.

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Conflict of Interest Statement: The author declares

that the research was conducted in the absence of any
commercial or financial relationships that could be
construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Received: 24 September 2014; accepted: 30 October 2014;

published online: 13 November 2014.

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The development of animal nutrition

Citation: Arai T (2014) The development of animal nutrition and metabolism and the challenges of our
time. Front. Vet. Sci. 1:23. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2014.00023
This article was submitted to Animal Nutrition and
Metabolism, a section of the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Copyright 2014 Arai. This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,

distribution or reproduction in other forums is
permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication
in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted
academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these
terms.

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